Zach

Zach was born in Massachusetts but grew up in suburban Connecticut.  He has always been at home in the woods, exploring the woods and wetlands near his home, rain or shine, and then later was involved in his high school outdoors program, rather than participating in conventional sports.  He left high school after his junior year, as he felt he wasn’t learning anything in terms of real world skills, and attended Bard College at Simons Rock in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.  Here he ended up majoring in pottery with a minor concentration in theatrical lighting.  After leaving college he worked as an apprentice to a potter in Hillsdale, New York for ten months, spending a cold New England winter in a tent in the woods on the potters property.  Zach spent more time splitting wood and helping his boss build a house than actually making pots but the year taught him a great deal about living outdoors and the value of hard labor.  Following this time in the woods Zach enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and spent the few months before shipping out working at the family business in Connecticut. Zach reported to Weapons Company, Third Battalion, Eighth Marine Regiment in July of 2009 and spent thirteen months training before his first deployment.  Zach deployed twice, once for ten months, evenly split between floating around on a ship off the Horn of Africa and Helmand Province, Afghanistan, and the second time for seven months to Afghanistan.  During his time in the Marine Corps Zach got a chance to see the world, spending time in six countries on three continents.  Days before his second deployment Zach learned of the Organic Farmer Training Program and hurried to submit his application before getting on a plane.  He conducted and interview over a satellite phone from a base in Garmsir, Afghanistan, and got a thrilling email from his wife a few weeks later telling him he had been accepted to the program.  Returning on Thanksgiving Day 2012, Zach was honorably discharged in February 2013 and arrived on the Student Organic Farm, sight unseen, that March.  Zach spent his nine months in the program learning the science and art of farming, and is now thrilled to be working as the propagation manager for the 2014 OFTP Cohort!